The Art of Living in Australia: Together with Three Hundred Australian Cookery Recipes and Accessory Kitchen Information by Mrs. H. WickenMuskett, Philip E.
Science
The Art of Living in Australia: Together with Three Hundred Australian Cookery Recipes and Accessory Kitchen Information by Mrs. H. Wicken
Muskett, Philip E.
Australia -- Social life and customs; Cooking, Australian; Health; Hygiene
To a certain extent this is true of all vines, but more especially so
in the case of Shiraz and some of the Pinots. In various districts of
France, in order to bring the grape to perfection, the vine-growers
will train out their main branches along trellises to a length of 50
and even 60 feet, so as to give the sap the longest possible distance
to travel; and, further, for the purpose of concentrating into the
fruit the whole result of the wine, all the buds and little shoots,
which would distract therefrom, are carefully taken away. This gives to
the vine a very curious look, but it serves well to illustrate how
greatly wines differ as to whether they require short or long pruning.
It also helps to a better understanding of the two main styles of
training the vine already mentioned, namely, the "gooseberry bush" and
the "trellising."
The fact that this elaboration of the sap in long-pruned vines requires
a long distance to intervene between the roots and the fruit itself, is
one of considerable importance. It is necessary to remember, however,
that cultivation of this kind requires additional labour. Moreover, one
of the principal reasons why the short-pruned vine has become such a
favourite in Australia is that it is a labour-saving vine, and
therefore its adoption is almost a necessity. But, as Mr. Sutherland
remarks, "there is no doubt that Australia can never hope to produce in
any quantity the finest qualities of wine until the vignerons attend
more to those practices which depend essentially upon the fundamental
fact that the sap flows with different habits through different
varieties of vines; and, therefore, that some vines require short
pruning, while it is even more important to remember that others will
only yield satisfactorily under a system of long pruning."
In a paper on viticulture, at Mildura, which was drawn up for the Royal
Commission on Vegetable Products in 1890, Mr. Francois de Castella, a
former expert to the Board of Viticulture, Victoria, has condensed so
much knowledge within a small compass that I have quoted the following:--
"Most of the settlers I met told me that they intended to prune their
vines short. Now, in my opinion, they could not make a greater mistake
--for wine-growing, at least; as for raisin-growing I have never taken
any interest in the subject, and, having no experience, do not wish to
express an opinion on it. I must say that all the settlers I had
occasion to speak to were raisin-growers, but I should warn any future
wine-grower at Mildura, who may chance to read these few notes, to
beware of short pruning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account